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pork

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Everything posted by pork

  1. Anymore, if you aren't bringing your own booze and snacks you are not doing it right. There are ways in which one might do well to emulate Hannibal Lecter
  2. It is very good. It's not exactly in DTC though, it's off Algonkian Pkwy over in the shopping center that Bloom is in, Great Falls Plaza, I think it's called. The prices are fairly high, but the seafood is of excellent quality. The chef is/was a protoge of Michel Ricard at some point. The original concept was top quality seafood to go for the rich folks in Lowe's Island...but I don't think that worked out. They've since remodeled to put in more tables. I've only been twice, but the food was really good both times. Also the sushi bar has real wasabi.
  3. pork

    Emeril Green

    It's filmed, btw, at the Whole Paycheck in Fairfax, VA. I go there for lunch sometimes and watch. They tape with the store open for business. It's pretty cool to watch actually.
  4. I've eaten at Malibu Steak House in Fairfax a bunch of times. I would call the food spotty. I've definitely gotten kebab there that I spit out because it tasted rotten. Some days the red meats are pretty good though. The bacon-wrapped turkey is usually too salty, but I like it anyway. I go there on hangover days and mainly eat the turkey and lots of green salad. I like all-you-can-eat salad. There's a new Texas de Brasil in the mall at fair oaks but I am usually too lazy to go that far for lunch. Also the brand new Market fresh at Fair lakes has great fresh fish, among other things, at eat-in counters.
  5. I am going to try this starting tonight. Made a starter this week. Looks lively. Smells a little more vinegary that I thought it would, but we shall see.
  6. pork

    The F Word!

    They showed the castration in the US. There was a disclaimer before that segment about disturbign content or something though. I am watching season two and enjoying it, although I am glad they are spending less and less time with the original premise of the show and doing more of the asides. Also I love his delivery of each episode's featured recipe. Chop. Saute. Deglaze. Fold. Spindle. Mutilate. Recipe of the day? Done.
  7. It would seem that the majority of polls do not agree with you. And yet, the unregulated free market does agree with me, as I said. So go pound sand.
  8. Open your own restaurants, then, nonsmokers, you assholes. If the majority of people want a nonsmoking environment, then the free market will bear you out. Hint: It won't. You need lots of high horse political manuevering and false analogies to get your way. Respirators and tents! Hah. Any you have and probably still will, with that 'for the children^H^H^H^H^H workers' bullshit mantra, combined with the utter lack of political thought in the general population. They just let it all happen.
  9. For my wife's birthday I took her to Vidalia in DC and it was one of the top 5 fine-dining meals I've had. The food was excellent as ever, but the service really knocked my socks off. Made the res through opentable.com, painless, mentioned that it was her birthday in the "comments" field, figured what the hell. They have totally redecorated/renovated since my last visit. The wine bar area is indeed very pleasant, and we beached ourselves there after dinner for a little while. But I am getting ahead of myself. We sat down and were given a few minutes to look over the short winelist, and our server appeared, I am sorry I forgot her name, but she was excellent. Ordered a martini for me and a glass of Cava for Tracy. They appeared in short order, waitress asked if we would like to see the full winelist, which we did. It is pretty impressive. The sommelier was present and offered help, but I am not a wine afficianado by any means, and we wound up just drinking martinis and cava, but, hey, drink what you like, right? So, on to the menu. Notice the birthday wish at the top. :toot: That's a nice touch. Funny thing, a young couple was sitting near us, seated about 15 minutes after us, same thing, girl opens menu..."wow how did they know??" *gush* Anyway, so only the entree part of the menu is in the pic, I don't have the other half. But we got: Starters: her: fois gras in onion broth me: baked oysters The ribeye (above) Venision loin (above) And we love mac and cheese, so we could not resist ordering the side of goat cheese and truffle mac. Interestingly, it was only $8, but it was $14.50 on the online menu. :toot: I guess it didn't sell at that price. Anyway, on the service, without going into too much detail, it was efficient, unobtrusive, and appeared effortless. I did 10 years in restaurants, both front and back of the house, and I know good service. This was fucking scary good service. So good, in fact, I asked the waitress if the mirror on the wall behind us was a one-way mirror, because there is no god damned way they could appear at the exact right second that many times in a row, and not ever when they weren't needed. The sommelier just passing our table sees my just-emptied martini and takes it and my order for another, and the waitress is there with it not three minutes later, and I didn't even see them talk to each other! I notice these things. Later, Manager/partner? Mike Nevarez came by to wish Tracy a happy birthday and I gushed to him about the service. (Never hurts to help out your server with the boss, right?!) Anyway, he gave some detail on the renovation and how they had done the first interior all themselves, but had pros do it the second time. The interior is very comfortable and pleasant indeed. It was before, but it looks even nicer now. Ok, the food. Keep in mind, this was an excellent meal. Fabulous in every way, and utterly delicious. Any criticism should be taken with a grain of salt, as I smoke, I drink martinis during dinner, and I don't even drink fancy wine. This is just how things were to my palate. Poached fois gras with onion/oxtail broth Stunningly good. The fois was cut into pieces similar in size to a half-stick of gum. With a spoonful of the broth, put that in your mouth and just gently press the fois against the roof of your mouth with your tongue and it just melts. This was on the special/tasting menu, and we asked the server for an opinion on that vs the fois terrine on the regular menu, and she recommended this one. Excellent. Baked oysters I don't remember what they were called, but they were lovely oysters smothered in crab, lobster, and cream and given a little topping that baked up like a quick bread. Utterly rich and delicious. Ribeye Really just the eye part of the ribeye, delicious and meaty. Perfect med-rare, of course. Crust was a little hard to cut with the knife provided, but tasty indeed. The braised oxtail in phyllo was a neat little cylinder looking thing with the most delicate beef barbecue you ever tasted inside. The dauphnois potatoes looked like little tater-tots, which was cute. Everything on this plate was excellent. Venision loin This loin was the mildest venison I ever tasted. This is where I am thinking my palate might be fucked, because the ribeye tasted "meatier" than the venison, and usually I find those two to be opposite. Regardless, it was perfectly cooked and tasty, and tender as can be. The huckleberry-horseradish thing was tasty but I could only barely detect the horseradish. The venison/wine reduction was much more flavorful, and with the various carmelized onions, I enjoyed this plate very, very much. Whole being much more than the sum of the parts. The chestnuts were nice, but not really necessary, I thought. Truffled goat mac To fucking die for. Ridiculously good mac and cheese, nice little crust on the top and black truffle shavings throughout. The only thing I could complain about is it was a little too truffle-y. The truffle overpowered the goat cheese. That's pretty hard to complain about though. Lemon Chess pie Their signature dessert. Just perfect. Little drops of meringue on the plate, each impossibly just barely browned on the top. Raspberry coulis for contrast in a little artistic smear, and a diamond-shaped piece of some other kind of jelly that was tasty and really sharp in the presentation. All in all, a fabulous god damned meal. After we ate, we retired to the wine bar on those comfy leather couches to have a cocktail and try to get jazzed up to go out. Someone appeared as we were sitting and relaxing with a complimentary selection of house-made petit-fours, again for the special occasion. Best petit-fours I ever tasted. They were nice and much softer than chocolates that come from a box, because they don't have to be made strong enough to travel! Especially enjoyed the one that tasted like it had an expresso ganache inside.
  10. Vidalia had shad roe on its tasting/special menu this past Saturday.
  11. pork

    The F Word!

    I've just started catching reruns of this on bbc america and it is pretty fucking sweet in parts.
  12. What grade is supermarket dry ice? There are many recipies in which the dry ice would come into intimate contact with food: for instance the chunk bubbling away in the botton of the Halloween "Witches Brew" rum punch. Or mixed in to fast-freeze a really smooth sorbet. Industrial chemicals come in grades from "Industrial" (yuck) through "Reagent" (pure enough for lab work) to "USP" (pharmacutical). What is in the Harris Teeter dry ice besides carbon dioxide?
  13. Yeah, in contrast to the duck I suppose the garlic sprouts are kind of underwhelming. I think if it were possible to go there and not order duck, they might shine a little brighter. But it's not.
  14. falls church + duck = peking gourmet inn you must go. peking duck is the specialty. garlic sprouts are another, but really we just order enough duck. LOTS of duck. So good. http://www.pekinggourmet.com/ oh and going from reston to falls church you're better off taking 267 to 66 and getting off at lee.
  15. .... and the ashes from your grill too, for that matter. Burned organic material is highly acidic and roses love it. ← I am fairly sure that as soon as those ashes get wet they produce lye, which is strongly basic, not acidic.
  16. Does anyone know the pictogram language that Adria uses in his lab? Is it in his (very expensive) book? I am remodeling my kitchen and one of the possibilities for a decorating lagniappe my wife and I discussed was painting some of those symbols along a bulkhead near the ceiling. I don't want to just copy some of the ones I see on the dvd, I would need to know what they mean.
  17. That is hysterical! Thanks for the tip!!
  18. supposedly the protein in the milk absorbs some of the trimethylamine, which is what makes it smell fishy.
  19. pork

    Beef Stew

    Beef Stew Serves 8 as Main Dish. Ok this stew is almost to the letter a direct lift from The New Best Recipe which is a compilation from the Cook's Illustrated people. Good book. You'll need a half hour for prep, about a half-hour of active cook time after that, then 2-3 hours in the oven, so do this on a weekend. It's not that time or labor intensive, but you need to be around. Please note, I am writing this for a relative that doesn't cook much, so please excuse the detailed explanation of some of the basics, like mise en place. To see the instructions with the detailed recipe steps and pictures, go to the original post. 3 lbs (1.5 kg) chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch (3.5 cm) cubes. (See note) salt and freshly ground black pepper 3 T vegetable oil 2 medium onions, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups) 1 rib celery, medium dice 3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press 3 T unbleached all-purpose flour 1 c. full-bodied dry red wine 1 T Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce 2 c. low-sodium chicken broth (I used homemade beef stock, because I'm a fag like that, but canned chicken broth is fine.) 2 bay leaves (make sure they have some smell to them, if they don't smell citrusy, throw them out, they've been in your cupboard for years, get some fresh ones.) 1 tsp dried thyme (ditto) 4 medium red potatoes, (about 1.5 lbs [2/3 kg]) peeled and cut into 1 inch (2 cm) chunks 4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) thick rounds (about 1 lb [1/2 kg]) 1 cup frozen peas, thawed Open the wine and let it breathe. Note about the beef: While you can buy pre-cut "stew meat" at most grocery stores, I wouldn't. That meat is usually going to be bottom round, which has almost no intramuscular fat, meaning the texture will be dry, and the flavor is not nearly as rich and beefy as the shoulder muscles. Ever had a beef stew with tough, dry little nubs of meat in it? That's bottom round. Grab a chuck roast, pull it apart along its natural separations, and trim off any silverskin and large pieces of fat and gristle. It really doesn't take that long, it's not that complicated, and the finished stew will really benefit from the effort. Ok, good! Peel and chunk potatoes into one inch pieces. (To keep them from browning, put them in a larger bowl than this and cover with cold water.) Put a medium dice on the celery and onion. I peel and cut carrots into round pieces, 1/4 inch thick. Wash, dry, and mince the parsley. Peel and mince the garlic. Measure out the thyme and get the bay leaves out. See we're getting everything together before cooking? This is called getting your "mise en place" together, which is just a fancy french way of saying "setting in place." It makes cooking a lot easier and more fun if you aren't scrambling with the prep while your garlic is burning in the pan! Here is one of the natural separations in the chuck roast. Just grab with two hands and pull it apart! Then trim the excess fat and gristle off the pieces. Cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Turn the oven on to preheat; set it for 300F (150C). Sprinkle the beef liberally with salt and pepper, and toss with your hands to get it all coated. I'm going to guess that I used two teaspoons of each. Heat one tbsp of oil over med-hi heat in the largest heavy-bottom pot you have, preferably a six or eight quart enameled iron dutch oven. Put in as much meat as you can without crowding. Don't fiddle with the meat for a few minutes. Let it brown 2-3 minutes before turning. Flip 'em over with tongs, brown the other side another 3-5 minutes. They'll be giving up some juice at this point, which is why you don't want to crowd them, or they won't brown, they'll steam. Remove the pieces to a bowl. Add another tbsp of oil, brown the next batch exactly the same way. Note the brown gunk accumulating on the bottom of the pot. The french call this "fond" and it's very important to the flavor of the dish. Put the rest of the meat in the bowl, add the last tbsp of oil, drop the heat to medium, then add the onion and celery and a teaspoon of salt. Stir occasionally as the onion softens, scraping the bottom of the pot as you go. A wooden spoon is the best thing for this, or a flat-bottomed wooden spatula like I'm using here. Sweat the onion and celery 4-5 minutes. Pour yourself a glass of wine! The juices from the onion and celery have dissolved a lot of the fond at this point. Add the garlic and sweat another minute or so. Add the flour and stir and scrape constantly, distributing the flour evenly through the vegetables. The flour will take a light brown color after a minute or so. As soon as that happens, add the wine, a little at a time, stirring constantly to get it incorporated with the roux and vegetables. Let it keep cooking, stirring and scraping, until it gets kind of thick. Add the worcestershire. Add the stock gradually, keep stirring! Add the thyme and bay leaf, bring the stew to a simmer. Put the meat back in, and any juices from the meat bowl. Bring it to a simmer again. Then cover with the lid and stick it in the oven. Kick back and enjoy your wine. Leave it in the oven for an hour. After an hour, take it out, drain the potatoes, and add the potato and carrot. Mix 'em up, and put it back in the oven for another hour and fifteen minutes. At this point, a few things are going to depend on the ingredients. The original recipe I'm following says an hour, but 15 minutes more were often required. My run took almost two hours. Just check it every 20 minutes or so. The meat should be tender, and the potatoes cooked through. You'll really notice a difference between "almost done" meat and the tender deliciousness when it hits the sweet spot. Pierce a larger piece of potato with a fork to make sure they're cooked through as well. When it does, take it out and give it a stir. Mine was a little too thin for my tastes, so I smashed 2-3 pieces each of potato and carrot with the wooden spoon and stirred them through the stew to thicken it up a little more. Taste and adjust the seasoning at this point. Does it need salt and pepper? If so, add it now. Add the peas, stir, and re-cover the pot. Let it stand for 5 minutes to heat the peas. Stir in the parsley and serve immediately! Keywords: Main Dish, Beef ( RG1665 )
  20. pork

    Cutting Boards

    My boos block started doing the same thing. I keep it oiled and don't soak it, so I was a little ticked. I used wood putty to fill the cracks and an orbital sander to refinish. Been ok since then.
  21. Yes. Yes, all of them. Yep, my family's favorite is made with reduced red wine, shallot, and tarragon. Gorgeous purple stuff that gets made usually for hot-rock cooking and fondues, but is great on a steak or a potato too. Sorry, pic's a little out of focus.
  22. That is the single most retarded thing I have ever heard.
  23. pork

    Smoking Misc. Meats

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1558214224/ If you're really interested in cold-smoking, this is a really good book, I have a copy.
  24. pork

    Radish consomme

    I've never cooked a radish, so I'm not sure what the flavor would be like. Raw radishes have some punch though. Maybe make a white veal stock, and add a bunch of radish juice (made in a juicer and passed through cheesecloth as many times as you can stand) right before the clarification? That's what I'd do as a jumping off point, but like I said, I never cooked a radish before, so. Might also want to roast a radish or two to see how cooking affects their flavor profile before you get started. If they're really nasty when cooked, you may need to find ways to incorporate their raw flavor, as above.
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